Retiring headteacher says his decision prompted consultation on closure of Dunswell Primary School
THE retiring head of a closure- threatened primary school says headteachers wanting to step down effectively have "a gun to their head".
Paul Johnston believes East Riding Council's decision to consult on the closure of Dunswell Primary School was prompted by his decision in November to give the authority notice he intended to retire.
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'poor candidate for closure': Retiring headteacher Paul Johnston with pupils at Dunswell Primary School. Picture: Jack Harland
Mr Johnston said: "There's a gun to the head of every head in the East Riding.
"If they decide they want to retire, it means the authority can close a school without paying redundancy to the head."
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Last week, under-fire council officials defended moves to close Dunswell Primary School.
They said Mr Johnston handed in his notice weeks after Ofsted ruled the primary must improve.
The retiring head actually left for personal family reasons.
Approached for his views by the Mail, Mr Johnson yesterday confirmed he had received a written apology from Alison Michalska, director of children, families and adult services at the council.
But the headteacher is keen not to embarrass the authority over the matter, saying simply: "I'd like to let it go now and concentrate on the school."
Mr Johnston believes Dunswell Primary is a poor candidate for closure.
The relatively poor Ofsted report can, he believes, be put down to the school having a comparatively small number of children so that one or two children with varying abilities can skew the results.
Mr Johnston said: "The Ofsted report was less than positive but it's not a reflection on the school.
"The school's teaching has been consistently graded as good or outstanding.
"It's true that the results for that cohort weren't as good but it was because we took in some children from other areas."
The headteacher originally intended to leave this August and need only have given notice of his intention at Easter.
He told the council early so it had more time to find a replacement headteacher.
He said: "It's been made to sound like I resigned because of the Ofsted report but that's simply not true. I'm retiring with my head held high."
Parent Julie Reed accused the council of making excuses to close Dunswell Primary School.
She said: "We don't want to comment on the head's situation.
"We support him and respect him in everything he has done for us."
6 Comments
by savedunswell
Thursday, March 07 2013, 8:41PM
“spiderboy omg how nice are you ???not very!!!!! he has stood down for personal reasons . fact is that dunswell and woodmansy got the same ofstead results .. so get your facts right before typing your dribble!”
by spiderboy
Wednesday, March 06 2013, 12:29PM
“send them to the nearest one --if your in the catchment they cant refuse you- do they walk from kingswood ? is there a school within walking distance? if so thats your school. as for the heads comments he clearly implies the council wait for a head to leave then shut the school to save on redundancy payment to the head teacher - rubbish - its economics , the only people who will suffer are the kids in the real catchment area .”
by dickymac
Wednesday, March 06 2013, 11:24AM
“Spiderboy, how do you quantify that Woodmansey is a better school? Under the previous Ofsted guidelines it scored exactly the same as Dunswell. In relation to the head, it has nothing to do with money and for one to comment on an emotive subject in which one knows so little about is irresponsible.
Regarding children attending from 'way out of' the catchment area, get a map, draw a couple of mile radius from the school and tell me that Kingswood, which quite a number of our children are from, is way out of the catchment area. In fact, if you check out the 'schools search' website and enter a Kingswood postcode, you will find that Dunswell school is a mile from Kingswood retail part, Bushey Park etc, the closest is Bude at 0.5 then Broa***** at 0.7. Not a great deal of difference but those particular schools are well oversubscribed already so where do you suggest sending a child too?”
by spiderboy
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 10:05PM
“I READ IT ALL RIGHT THE 1ST TIME - WHAT WOULD IT COST TO KEEP THE SCHOOL OPEN FOR 1 YEAR? HOW MUCH REDUNDANCY WOULD HE BE ENTITLED TO? DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT THEY WOULD KEEP A FAILING SCHOOL WITH 75 PERCENT OF THE PUPILS COMING FROM WAY OUT OF THE CATCHMENT AREA (BECAUSE THEIR KIDS ARE TOO GOOD FOR THEIR LOCAL SCHOOL) OPEN INDEFINITELY TO AVOID PAYING REDUNDANCY TO ONE PERSON? ...... GIVE ME A BREAK ...... IM NO MATHEMATICIAN BUT THE FIGURES DONT ADD UP -- IMO HES MORE DISGRUNTLED THAT HES MISSED OUT ON REDUNDANCY THAN THE FACT THE SCHOOL IS CLOSING , IF HE WASNT WHY BRING IT TO THE NEWSPAPERS ATTENTION? WHY NOT JUST CHANNEL ENERGY INTO KEEPING IT OPEN ? ........ MUST DO BETTER , NO EXCUSES , NO PASS THE BUCK THE SCHOOL ISNT DOING GOOD ENOUGH , EVEN WITH SMALL NUMBERS. ANYWAY , WOODMANSEY IS A BETTER SCHOOL”
by Yelrubsol
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 11:23AM
“No, he is NOT talking about missing a redundancy payment. Read it again.
He is saying that the Councils are waiting for Headtechers to retire, then looking to close the school, so that there is no Headteacher to pay redundancy to. I'm sitting on the fence on this issue, but the poitn he is making is nothing to do with a redundancy payment. He won't care about that - he will have his Headtecher's salary already.”
by spiderboy
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 8:26AM
“oh and there was me thinking he was putting the kids first yet all he bleats on about is him missing out on a redundancy payment- if a school with such small numbers is told by ofstead it must improve- then in comparison to a larger school it is surely failing- keep the school open but give it to a head whos not going to moan about missed redundancy payments”